You've probably noticed that EQ has been bangin on how brilliant Blake Lewis' new album "Heartbreak On Vinyl" is for quite a while now. Well truth be known, I think it's one of the best pop albums made this year and if you're a fan of dance music, 80's retro and contemporary pop mastery at it's best, you really need to make sure you have "Heartbreak On Vinyl" on pre-order. It's that good and I'm not about to be removed from the soap box here…
Blake Lewis has always been keen to talk to EQ about his music and we're always excited to learn what he's conjuring up in the studio. In our third interview with Blake Lewis, the young talent and American Idol alum talks about the new album, his thoughts on music piracy and why it's his fault that the girl he loved got away…
Hey Blake! How are you?
I'm good, how are you?
Great – I've been listening to "Heartbreak On Vinyl" for about five days now and I can't stop listening to it…
Well thank you.
I know one of the themes on the album is how the record stores have closed – thus the title track…I was wondering if you could give me some insight into what the song "Heartbreak on Vinyl" is all about…
Well, I was in Union Square in New York and I went to Virgin Records a lot there – it was like THE destination for me…it was really sad because this huge huge huge record store had closed down. A bunch of shops here and in Seattle have closed as well, we had tons of indie record shops here and it's just sad…the industry is just eating itself. To me, "Heartbreak On Vinyl" is a very sentimental pop song. I was very inspired to write it.
It is very sad that all the record shops are closing down, even in London we only have a few big names like HMV left. A of pop stars are now coming out and giving their opinions on piracy and I wonder what your thoughts were on filesharing and piracy and how it's effecting you…
It's kinda tough right now. It's such a weird industry, especially with technology. My track "Sad Song" has been downloaded 60,000 times illegally! You kinda have to look at it as a positive though because at least my music is getting out there to people. I wish they would buy it. I gotta make some money at my job! I don't want to do this just as a hobby [laughs]. That's what's frustrating. Me, I'm an advocate for actual records – vinyl, cds and actually having the art with it. Personally, I barely download anything. Music is communication as well. It's just enivitable that every one is just going to communicate about – the communication! Music is inspiring you know and of course it's gonna be illegally downloaded – which is not inspiring…but if you have a friend that is going to send you an mp3 because they are super-inspired by it, and you want to hear it, cuz your friend's stoked and you want to be stoked for your friend!
That's a very interesting way to look at it. One thing I noticed about the record right away is that it's a lot different from "Audio Day Dream" – in the good way. I kinda feel like it's the record you wanted to make. As a whole how do you feel about the record now that it's finally done and that people are starting to listen to it…
I'm so happy. It's just great when you're done and you get your record back from mastering and you sigh, you get this breath of fresh air…especially if it turns out good [laughs: he he he]. I'm very proud of this record and happy my vision came through and finally the sound is alive. I just wish it was out already! I can't wait.
A couple more weeks Blake…
I can't wait for people to hear this and that people have a good time with it and rock out with it – dance around in their living room and drive really fast in their cars while listening to it. Just have fun with it – it's a half personal record and half "lose your inhibitions" dance record.
What was your favorite track while making this record…
"Binary Love" just has a seductive beat. That was the beat that really set the tone for the record.
That's your nerdy pop song right…
Yeah, but I mean it's sexy too. I wrote it kinda nerdy. I was just on sensory overload pretending I was a robot or something [Laughs]. I had a lot of fun with that track – me and my friend Steve wrote that and I'm just really proud of the vocal on that. It's got a very strong chorus – there's something about it. It's just addictive. Whenever I hear that song, I just want to listen to it again. That's been the reaction from the record as a whole. But I have some other favorites too "Rapture Of Love" is very personal to me – I produced and wrote it. That was the first song I did for the whole record. They all have their own feeling – depends on the mood I'm in. "Rebel Without A Cause" is one of my favorute songs to sing but it's one of the hardest one because that is about my ex-girlfriend that I was madly in love with, and I kinda blew it. That is sorta the song that describes me too – I'm sorta a rebel and in the relationship, I tend to screw things up…
I think everyone does Blake…
Yeah right, I'm not the only one!
Now the video for "Sad Song" comes out tomorrow…what can we expect from it?
It's just fun! It's kinda got that film noir, Dick Tracy kinda vibe. She's leaving for a trip, but you don't know if she's leaving for good and she writes him a note and she leaves for good. It's kinda tongue in cheek and it's just fun. It's just really well shot. The director did a really good job. It was just a fun process, I wish I
could make a music video every weekend! I wish that was part of the job – making a video every weekend [Laughs].
Now you worked with some really cool people on this album – I saw you worked with Darkchild – what was it like doing a track with him.
It was great man! It was very organic. I brought my loop pedals and saw a video I did with BT – that will come out soon, and he said we gotta do something with all your loop pedals and beatboxing as the foundation of the song…and we started to jam. We just started to belt this track out and it came organically and it was great! I always wanted to work with him – like forever! I was really honoured that he wanted to work with me as well.
I also saw you did with Dave Aude as well…
Yeah, him and I kinda go back – we've been friends for three years. We met through my good friend DJ Dan. He did a remix for "Audio Day Dream". He wanted to work with me again and we did three songs together and two made the record. I had this piece "Love or Torture" that I wrote with my good friend Ryan Tedder awhile back. I was just saving it because I needed the right person to work with it because it's very special to me. We worked on that song for awhile – four or five days – I'm super picky, me and Dave butted heads a little in the studio and just hashing out mine and his ideas. I'm really happy – when the chorus comes in, it comes in bangin – it's the biggest club song on the record. When that chorus comes in – it's just fun. And we also did "The Remedy" – Dave just smashed it – it's got a cool vibe.
I also read that "I Left My Baby For You" is actually about you leaving a girl for your career…
Yeah – that pretty much explains it. I was with my girlfriend here in Washington and I broke it off to go back to California. It wasn't just about the career, there were a lot differnet reasons why we brok up the relationship – but that was the big one. I was trying to get back on track. Sharing that with someone else, me being an only child, I'm very independent. If I'm not with an independent woman then it just doesen't work. She was just very co-dependant. You would think the song would be about a girl, but "you" is actually California and my career. So, you can take it for what it is. I knew that I was wrong though. I realized I could have done this with her and I wanted to share this with an amazing women – I love her. When I came back, because of co-dependency, she already found someone and was going to move to Hawaii with him…I was heartbroken. It was my fault. And that's the end of the song – the last three lines are "It's my fault"...
Being from the Northwest myself, I always had dreams of picking up and moving to Los Angeles – what's it like being a Northwestern boy who picks up and moves to LA – it must be a different type of life than you had in Seattle…
Yeah I knew when I was getting in the industry that I had to get out of Seattle because my type of music is very niche. Seattle right now, the local scene is terrible and there's no support. Washington is just turning very suburban. It always has been. In the 90's there was more love and support and people were going out more. Pioneer Square was thriving – all these clubs had bands in them. Now it's all top 40 DJs that play all the same radio shit. No one's going out to clubs anymore, and because of The Rave Act, no one's raving anymore. It's just become so sad…so I knew I had to go as soon as rave started dying. At that time though, I was still working on my craft as a singer/songwriter. People on the scene just knew me as the host of all these raves and hip/hop shows. Only when they came to my show did they actually get to hear me sing and do my stuff. I was doing that 2 or 3 times a week as a full time musician/solo artist and I knew I had to get out of Seattle. I needed to tour – you have to tour and there you go – something happened for a reason.
So the record comes out early October – is there any thought or message you would like people to think when they listen to for the first time…
Oh, I don't know about that! What to keep in mind…I don't want to pose any questions to anyone who wants to listen to my music. As long as they listen to it and have a good time – I'm happy.
Do you think it's a good representaiton of dance music in the here and now…
I think so. I had a lot of fun making and producing the record and coming up with these keyboard lines and melodic songs. I hope some of the melodies stick with people when they hear it. Even when people listen to it for the first time, I want them to be surprised that it's me. I hope they walk away singing some of the songs in their head. That's where I'm passionate – finding the right melodies for each song and that they come from an organic place. It all comes mainly from freestyling on the microphone and singing about what I feel. I hope my feelings transcend and makes the listeners feel a certain way.
Thanks Blake – it's always a pleasure speaking to you. I think you did a great job on the record – one of the best pop records this year…I can't stop singing "Heartbreak On Vinyl" – you got me hooked on a melody there…
Well that's up for next single there! I'm so glad you like it.